Book Review: An Angel to Die For

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

An Angel to Die For     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Mignon F. Ballard
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Cozy   Amateur Sleuth   Supernatural
Series: Augusta Goodnight # 2
St. Martin’s, Oct 2000, $23.95, 320 pp.

Prentice Dobson wonders how life can get any crueler for herself and her mother. She still mourns her father’s death from a heart attack when her sister Maggie died in a car crash. Between the deaths Prentice loses her job when the Atlanta based magazine she worked for folded. She has come home to bury her younger sister Maggie. However, Prentice cannot even grieve in peace. Someone knocked aside the stone of her long dead Uncle Faris and dug a hole where the coffin had been buried. Prentice wonders if her Aunt Zorah might not say something like that is just like “That Fool”.

The next day, Prentice meets Augusta Goodnight making hot chocolate in her mother’s kitchen. Augusta claims to be Prentice’s temporary guardian angel sent from heaven to help her. Prentice is in for one more shock when the body inside of Faris’ coffin is someone else. As Prentice, assisted by Augusta begins to look into her sister’s death, she begins to learn about herself, her family, and her sister’s family by marriage.

AN ANGEL TO DIE FOR is a captivating southern mystery with a pinch of whimsical heavenly magic. Readers who relish humor in their tales will fully delight in amusing story line. Prentice is a warm character struggling with several of life’s toughest hooks and Augusta is an intriguing temp who will send readers searching for the previous novel (see ANGEL AT TROUBLESOME CREEK). Mignon F. Ballard writes a lighthearted romp that leaves the audience happily entertained.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner